Tokyo Tower in Cherry Blossoms

One of my dreams is Paris.

How excited do you think I was when I found out the Tokyo Tower looked almost exactly like the Eiffel Tower?!!
Score.

And it was springtime, with cherry blossoms everywhere.
Double score.

It was beautiful, especially all lit up on a perfect, clear night.
Definitely something to put on your list of things to do in Tokyo.

What Does the Kareoke Fox Say

This is a really quick post about something very Japanese.

KARAOKE!

As a bonus, I did it in a kigurumi.

With a fantastic, fun group of people. 

You rent a room that comes with a few remotes, a TV, and a menu. 

If you need anything from the menu you just pick up the phone and a few moments later it appears.

A great way to spend the night with great people.

P.S. I love my fox kigurumi. I think everyone needs one.  I got Chris a panda one as a mini present.

Hamarikyu Gardens, Tokyo

I was so excited about all the gardens in Tokyo before I left Singapore.
(I looked at a map and assumed all the green spaces were gardens and parks.)

Then someone told me that they weren't that great.

I would have to completely disagree with that opinion after having been here myself.

The Hamarikyu (or hama-rikyu) gardens are beautiful!
There are fields of yellow flowers and cherry trees, and a killer view of the skyline.

So with no further ado, I give you, flowers, skylines, and nature's beauty in Tokyo, Japan:

I don't know about you, but this is quite impressive as far as parks and gardens go.
I loved that the people here were actually out and enjoying the sunshine!

Japanese Tea Ceremony at a 150 Year Old Tea House

I had a Bucketlist for Japan before coming here to make sure I made the most out of my trip.
One of the things I really wanted to do was go to a traditional tea ceremony.

A lot of the places that Google recommends are tea ceremonies held at hotel halls.
That wasn't exactly what came to mind when I thought "traditional" so I kept looking.

Then I found a blogpost on Happo-En and knew this was the place I wanted.

The only thing is that the sensei only speaks Japanese so you will need a Japanese speaking friend or translator.
Luckily I had the former.

This tea house is located on a huge estate in the middle of the city, but being here you'd never know.
It's positioned on a gorgeous lake surrounded by cherry blossoms.
And the sweetest lake hut I have ever seen.

When the hour of our booking arrived we were expecting to be with a tour group like the one that just left, but that's not at all what happened.
We had the whole place and the sensei to ourselves and to whom we could ask any question we wanted.
(She's been perfecting her practice of making tea for more than 40 years!!)

She laid out some mochi and a sugar cookie for each of us to enjoy while she began preparing the matcha green tea.

Every tea house has their own unique matcha blend and a special, ceremonial way of preparing it, so while we were allowed to watch we weren't allowed to record any videos.

The whole ceremony takes maybe 10 minutes but the tea is incredible.
You will never have anything like it anywhere else.

We also learned the correct, and very polite way of showing your appreciation to the host for making the tea, and how to drink it properly.
It's a process that involves bowing, admiring the bowl/cup, sipping the tea, cleaning the bowl/cup, hand placement, among other things... very beautiful, but needless to say I would need a lot more practice before I can do this properly.

We liked it so much that we asked for another cup... and we shamelessly drank this almost completely forgetting what we just learned about manners.

The walk around the estate is beautiful and we saw many people dressed up in traditional clothes taking their wedding pictures.

Afterwards we had a little walk around the garden to admire the amount of work needed to keep a place this big looking so manicured and polished.

Address          |          Phone: 03-3441-7888

Mt. Fuji, Japan

You can't go to Japan and not see Mt. Fuji.
Though it's a lot more exciting in the summer/climbing season, I still had to see it for myself.

It's beautiful, yes?
Let's begin from the beginning so you know how I ended up here in the first place shall we?

I took the Fujikyu Train.
It's only one of the ways to get to Mt. Fuji, but it should really be the only way.

Huge 360 degree windows, comfortable lounge chairs, a library, and look at that baby crib!!!

Ready for the view from the train?

It's all a little confusing when you arrive at the station because, again, almost everything is in Japanese.

Walk out of the station and get in a queue for a bus.
They all take you in some direction around the lake, so you can't get too far from where you want to be.
If you realize you'd rather be going the other way just ask the driver to stop and get on the next bus heading in the opposite way.
Bring cash, no Suica cards allowed.
(A Suica card is your train ticket, vending machine money, and bus fare, among other things, in Tokyo.)

We took the bus to the last stop and made a decision to walk all the way back to the train station.
Make yourself a cup of tea, sit back, relax, and enjoy the different sides of Mt. Fuji.

We finally made it back to the train station, hours later, starved.
After a nice katsudon to warm up we were ready to get back home.

With one last look at the mountain we boarded the 3 hour train and slept the whole way back.